The head of the Pattaya Provincial Court brought together legal, law enforcement and immigration officials in an effort to increase cooperation in cases involving tourists.
Chief Justice Apichart Thepnoo hosted the Sept. 25 meeting at the Welcome World Beach Resort & Spa with more than 50 officials from the Attorney General’s Office, local police stations, Pattaya Remand Prison, probation officers, lawyers and the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Pattaya office.
Chief Justice Apichart Thepnoo (center) brought together legal, law enforcement and immigration officials in an effort to increase cooperation in cases involving tourists.
“I believe that this kind of meeting is important since it is normal that agencies would be faced with obstacles while working together,” Apichart said. “Therefore, getting an opportunity to discuss and troubleshoot problems is a good directive for future cooperation.”
He said the majority of coordination issues faced are by immigration and tourist police in regards to tourist cases, including overstays, expired visas or missing passports.
“These problems must be attacked case by case for justice and to maintain the rights of tourists,’ Apichart said. “Plus there is also the slow information transfer and requests for jail time that require consideration. There are still certain agencies that we must have detailed discussions with later until a conclusion can be reached with each agency. In the future, there will be better guidelines for coordination between agencies.”
